


moe hohonu (deep sleep)

by gladdecease



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Coma, Community: prompt_in_a_box, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-28
Updated: 2011-10-28
Packaged: 2017-10-25 00:44:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/269775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gladdecease/pseuds/gladdecease
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A selection of several one-sided conversations Steve McGarrett didn't hear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	moe hohonu (deep sleep)

" - come on, McGarrett, don't do this to me. Steve. _Steve_. Come on, Steve, stay with me!"

* * *

"...it's not the same without you, Boss."

* * *

"You had better wake up soon, brah. People are going kind of crazy without you around, and I don't just mean drug dealers picking up their game while you're out of commission."

* * *

"The awful thing is, I was just getting to know you. I still want to - and not just because I haven't figured you out yet. I _liked_ the guy I was getting to know, you know? I wanted to learn more about him so I could see if that was going to stay true, or if getting to know you better would have made me like you less, like with my last ex-boyfriend.

"...or, maybe, knowing you better would've made me like you more. I don't know. And I can't know until you wake up. So... please?"

* * *

"I don't even know what I'm doing here, man, I _know_ you can't hear me. Damn Lori and her psychotherapy behavior analysis whatsits - she says talking to the comatose person is more for the benefit of the speaker than the listener, and that _apparently_ I need to get some things off my chest. There is nothing I need to get off my chest, Steven. I don't need anything, except maybe to be out _there_ , looking for the son of a bitch that put you in this damn coma in the first place.

"...damn it, I've been around her too much. I can practically hear her saying that this is perfectly normal behavior, that I'm channeling my worry about you into anger towards whoever did this to you. Or something like that, I'm not a psychologist, what do I know? But yeah, I miss you, crazy as that sounds, and I'm worried. Nobody I've ever seen go into a coma ever came out, so I think it's a pretty legitimate concern, if you ask me.

"...not that you _can_ , what with being in a coma and all."

* * *

"Hey, Boss. Five-0's still running - kicking ass and taking names, including the guy who crashed into your car and landed you here. He's not talking yet, but the governor's been looking the other way when it comes to this case, so he'll talk eventually. Still, I don't know, it feels weird. Like there's a hole in the room every time we discuss a case. A gap that needs filling.

"...was it like that for you while I was gone? Danny says it was for him.

"I wish you'd told me. Hell with that, you _should have_ told me. I thought - back then, when I saw how smoothly you were working without me, I thought, "Oh, here's this mainland chick the governor brought in to take my place. I guess she did a pretty good job of it." But I can tell now, that's not how it was. You learned to work around the gap I left, she just eased the way. It took me months to figure that out, though, and I was a real bitch to Lori outside of work because of it. You would've saved us a lot of grief if you'd just said something. I don't know what, just something.

"Boss, they could bring in a new guy, a Navy guy, even a SEAL, and he could _never_ replace you. I don't even think he could help us work around the gap you've left. It's just too big."

* * *

"The governor's getting worried. He wants somebody to take your old job, but nobody in Five-0's willing to take it, and he knows bringing in someone new is a disaster waiting to happen. He keeps calling Danny about it. Danny started answering the phone as "Temporary Head of Five-0 Detective Williams" in response.

"None of us have given up hope, Steve. But at the same time... if one of us doesn't step up soon, he might start thinking a poorly working task force would be the least of his problems."

* * *

"Damn it Steven, it has been months. _Months_. I can't believe - well, no, I absolutely _can_ believe you could be stubborn enough to refuse to wake up. I just can't believe you would want to. You know the governor's talking about forcing a promotion on me? Making me head of Five-0. He said he's got somebody out in DC applying to join up, but he won't authorize a new hire until we've got a conscious task force leader.

"You know, I didn't think it could get much worse than when you were arrested. You were in jail, Five-0 was gone, Rachel and Grace were gone, that right there is everything I was staying on this damn island for - but this, this is so much worse. I haven't seen my daughter in months. If Five-0 is disbanded now, it's on me. And you - at least when you were in jail I could talk to you, and even if you didn't talk back I could read your reaction in your face. Now there's nothing, not even a damn _twitch_ , and I -

"Damn it, I can't do this. Not now."

* * *

"Oh god, _Steve_. Look at you, you're so - you're so _pale_. And _skinny_ , I haven't seen you this thin since you started playing football. I... wow. Just - hospital living has _not_ been good to you, brother.

"...your friends have been trying to get me to come out and visit for weeks, you know that? I kept telling them the minute I got on a plane you'd wake up, just to spite me. Kono said that was all the more reason for me to come, speed up your recovery, but I didn't want to do it. Just in case it didn't happen. But you've been in a coma for so long they had to ask family what to do, so... here I am. And there you are.

"Don't worry, I'm not giving up on you, not that easily. Not this time. I told them to keep you on here as long as they can. I know you, you'll manage to wake up somehow. Someday."

* * *

"You remember Reggie Cole, right? I mean, I don't - the case happened last year, before the governor hired me, but I think you would remember it. Cole was an undercover NYPD cop whose wife was killed by the son of the mob boss he was investigating. I guess he finished up his case against the guy, decided he wanted to take you up on a job offer you made back then. He came out here with his son to look for a house and to try and convince us when the governor said "Maybe," and, well. I don't need to tell you how Danny gets with kids.

"That, plus, we do need the help. Not all of us are capable of working your hours and then chasing people across rooftops, though it's apparently a requirement of the job from the way Danny went after this guy last week. That did not end well, let me tell you..."

* * *

"Hello, Commander McGa... well, I suppose, given the situation, _Steve_ would be more appropriate.

"Hello, Steve.

"I know what you must be thinking - well, what you _would_ be thinking, were your brain functioning on a level that allowed for cognitive thought - "Why is Dr. Bergman talking to me? Surely he knows that people in comas cannot _really_ hear what others are saying?" Normally, you would be correct to wonder. However, given what I am about to do - which is not only highly illegal, but may also put your physical well-being in jeopardy - I've found that talking... helps. It helps more when the person I'm speaking to can't respond, actually - for example, I talked while sewing up your stab wound after you escaped from prison, and found it made the entire process go much more smoothly.

"Now you would be wondering, "Why is Dr. Bergman doing something illegal to me?" As it so happens, I have been monitoring your medical records, out of concern for your condition. While I may not be a medical doctor, and have very little experience working with live bodies, I noticed several anomalies in both your treatment and your response to it. I believe your records have either been falsified or tampered with, and the only sure way to know is to repeat the tests myself.

"Don't worry, a sample of your intravenous medication and a vial of blood should be sufficient.

"...maybe two vials, just in case.

"I'll have to be very discrete in my investigations, but hopefully I'll have results to share with you... or at least, your team, very soon. Have a nice day. Um. Well... as nice a day as you _can_ have, while in a coma."

* * *

"So, Max's suspicions were dead-on. Turns out Wo Fat's got a few moles in the hospital - well, he _had_ a few moles. Reggie went undercover for a few weeks to find them, since he was the only one of us who hadn't been here as part of Five-0. Anyway, they were working together to make sure you got the wrong medication. Rather than keeping your body stable while your mind repaired itself, the drugs were actually keeping you under, forcing your brain into a coma-like state. Don't ask me how, that's Max's field of expertise.

"You know, he nearly got fired over investigating this? We looked into it for him, and it turns out his boss was dirty too. That's why he kept missing vital evidence in so many cases..."

* * *

"Okay, you know what? I have _had_ it. You've been off the coma-inducing drugs for two weeks, Steve. They've long since been flushed out of your system, there is _no_ reason for you to still be in a coma. You - you're supposed to be awake by now, bitching about all the muscle mass you've lost, how much PT's gonna suck, asking about everything you've missed. And you've missed a lot, so that conversation would have taken awhile. We would probably only be finishing it up right about now. If you were awake like you're supposed to be.

"You're not supposed to still be lying there, dead to the world!

"...Steve, I can't keep doing this without you. I don't know _how_ you ever managed to lead Five-0 under Denning, because it _sucks_ , and if it sucks for me it must've been ten times worse for you, at _least_. Though I guess it might have been a little easier for you, still having your partner. Not that you as my partner brightened up my life that much - you were a giant pain in my ass nine times out of ten and you knew it - but any partner would be better than this. I can't even go out in the field, not since I nearly broke my leg and tore my ACL _again_. Chasing a seventeen year old with a fake gun, can you believe that? Didn't even get to arrest him for my trouble.

"You know, Steve, when I came to this island all I had was Grace, once a week. Then I had Meka - a good, _sensible_ partner, if not my best friend ever - and I was okay. Better when I had Grace, but okay. And then _you_ came into my life, out of nowhere, and suddenly I had you, and Chin, and Kono. I got to see Grace more often, and talking to Rachel actually got to be nice again. Whether I was with Grace or not, Five-0 made things _good_ for me, for the first time in a very long time, and I owe all of that to you. So when Rachel and Grace left, but you needed me? I stayed. And don't get me wrong, I'd make that choice again. But now...

"Steve, if you don't wake up soon, I don't think I can take it. All I've got on this island is Five-0, and Five-0 isn't the same without you. If you aren't coming back...

"When Rachel left me, I couldn't go near most of my old haunts because they reminded me of her, and it hurt too damn much. This whole damn _state_ just reminds me of you, in the worst possible way. If you aren't waking up, I don't know if I have a reason to -

"What the... nurse? Excuse me, nurse? This monitor that's supposed to be measuring his brain waves is acting up, what does that mean? Is he - "

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt "coma" at [prompt_in_a_box](http://community.livejournal.com/prompt_in_a_box)'s October 2011 round.


End file.
